A doctoral citation summarizes the nature of the independent research, provides a high-level overview of the study, states the significance of the work and says who will benefit from the findings in clear, non-specialized language, so that members of a lay audience will understand it.
| Year | Citation | Program |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Identifying anomalies in multivariate data is important in many applications including fraud detection. Dr. Leung developed methods to identify individual and chunks of deviating data cells in a data set. He subsequently extended his method to serve as an initial step for estimating different statistical quantities. | Doctor of Philosophy in Statistics (PhD) |
| 2017 | Due to increasingly high demand for Electric Vehicles, Dr. Shafiei studied the problems with DC-DC power converters as battery chargers. He also investigated the application of novel power converters and modulation strategies at various power levels. His work will help improve the efficiency and range of Electric Vehicle battery chargers. | Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical and Computer Engineering (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Brown discovered how malnutrition can affect gut microbes, metabolites and the immune system in the intestine. He used this information to develop the first animal model of an inflammatory disease called environmental enteropathy, which will be used to screen new therapies for reversing malnutrition. | Doctor of Philosophy in Microbiology and Immunology (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Schneider developed new methods for kidney tissue interrogation through the use of ultrasound and ultrasound elastography imaging. This technique allows for the non-invasive measurement of tissue stiffness which is an indication of cancer and scar tissue build-up for improved surgical navigation and overall monitoring of kidney health. | Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical and Computer Engineering (PhD) |
| 2017 | All academic writing shifts between more concrete and more abstract wording. The variability in abstraction is both a resource and challenge for writers using English as an additional language (L2). Dr. Ferreira developed a new, quantitative method of analyzing abstraction and identified the scope and function of abstraction in L2 writers' texts. | Doctor of Philosophy in Language and Literacy Education (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Harrower showed how the structure of temperate grassland food webs changed when ecosystems go from wet to dry. His experiments help us understand how climate change events, such as persistent drought, will impact grassland biodiversity and ultimately have an effect on human activities such as ranching. | Doctor of Philosophy in Botany (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Mizuta examined the shaping of Chinese as a heritage language in Canada. She analyzed the struggles Chinese Canadian parents faced to raise their children to be bilingual in English and Chinese. Her study revealed the structural problems of Canadian society, which has failed to embrace the multilingual skills of immigrant children. | Doctor of Philosophy in Language and Literacy Education (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Omid developed and used novel methods to study 2+1 dimensional quantum field theories that are made of strongly interacting ingredients. His results explain the strange behaviors that these complex systems show in the experiments. A deeper understating of these systems helps us to utilize them in future. | Doctor of Philosophy in Physics (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Haslam studied the synthesis of plant cuticular waxes, which waterproof plant surfaces and prevent desiccation. Waxes are extremely long, modified fatty acids. Dr. Haslam identified and characterized a novel protein family that controls the extensive elongation of fatty acids that occurs during cuticular wax metabolism. | Doctor of Philosophy in Botany (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Ghasvareh investigated the effects of Cobalt particle size on Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, a set of chemical reactions that convert a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen gas to liquid hydrocarbons. Her research broadened our knowledge about the stability of Cobalt catalysts and can be applied to synthesize catalysts with a longer lifetime. | Doctor of Philosophy in Chemical and Biological Engineering (PhD) |
| 2017 | The integrity of our genetic material is maintained by cellular proteins that perform DNA repair. Dr. Fam's work illustrates a role for one such DNA repair protein - TDP1 - in the repair of mitochondrial DNA and as a target in cancer therapy. His work raises questions about the consequences of mitochondrial DNA mutation in human disease and shows the potential of TDP1 inhibition in targeted cancer therapy. | Doctor of Philosophy in Medical Genetics (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Zakariaee developed methods that improve the accuracy of dose estimates for the bladder in women treated with radiotherapy for cervical cancer. She then applied these methods to study dose effects on urinary morbidity in these patients. This work contributes towards the development and application of improved dose assessment techniques in radiotherapy. | Doctor of Philosophy in Physics (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Yang explored the underlying mechanism for experience-dependent, visual cortical plasticity and uncovered a potential therapeutic reagent for treating visual impairment in adulthood. She also demonstrated how early visual experience affects the functional connectivity within the visual cortex and the cerebral cortex as a whole. | Doctor of Philosophy in Neuroscience (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Fessenden looked at food-waste and hunger through the lens of an activist group, Food Not Bombs. She introduced the concepts of direct action project and social movement (dis)organization to understand this anarchist-inspired group and its potential to address hunger and poverty in empowering ways. | Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology (PhD) |
| 2017 | Because digital videos take up a lot of space, Dr. Tohidypour studied the redundancies that exist in the latest video compression standards, and proposed efficient reduction schemes. These schemes can be used to simplify the hardware and software implementation of the latest video compression standards and facilitate their wide spread adoption. | Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical and Computer Engineering (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Thoma studied Bavarian German discourse particles, words that give a wider epistemic context and are used to establish common ground between speaker and addressee. She argued that abstract representations of speaker and addressee knowledge are an integral part of our grammatical competence. | Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Jaung studied certification of forest ecosystem services. His findings show the opportunities and challenges of applying certification to ecosystem services management. His work contributes to analyzing comprehensive management of forest resources. | Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Onditi explored Tanzanian adolescents' experiences of cyberbullying, how they cope with it, as well as factors that influence their coping strategies. His findings provide further evidence that cyberbullying is a global issue, with no single coping strategy that works for everyone. Results point to the need for culturally relevant interventions. | Doctor of Philosophy in Human Development, Learning, and Culture (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Sikorski developed small volume methods to grow and analyze single mammalian cells. These studies assist us in understanding how single cell differences affect populations of cells. | Doctor of Philosophy in Biomedical Engineering (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Seifi studied people's perceptions of and language for 'synthetic touch' feedback, such as vibrations from mobile phones and smartwatches. Based on her findings, she developed simple and effective mechanisms that enable ordinary people to design and personalize their everyday vibration notifications on a mobile device. | Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Panagiotoglou examined the effect of recent hospital closures in British Columbia, and how acute care access, appropriateness and quality of care affect patient outcomes following medical emergencies. She found hospital closures were not associated with increased mortality, and that the care received once hospitalized can compensate for travel time. | Doctor of Philosophy in Population and Public Health (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Patel examined the health and economic benefits of improving drug adherence using text-message based interventions. He found they could efficiently improve patient health in Canada, Kenya and India. His work builds an understanding of how text-message based interventions can add value to infectious disease control worldwide. | Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Byean examined how tracking practices, by which students are placed and taught according to English test scores, had negative effects on students' academic socialization. This critical ethnographic study suggests the need for reexamining tracking practices to fulfil the needs, interests, and knowledge of students from diverse backgrounds. | Doctor of Philosophy in Teaching English as a Second Language (PhD) |
| 2017 | The cerebellum is a brain region that has important motor and non-motor functions. Dr. Zhang and his colleagues generated a cerebellar transcriptome time series with Helicos sequencing technology. He identified more than a hundred transcriptional regulators that are important for the development of the cerebellum and cerebellar granule cells. | Doctor of Philosophy in Medical Genetics (PhD) |
| 2017 | Biomass is organic matter that can be utilized as a source of energy. Dr. Jia studied the heat and mass transfer of biomass particles and developed a more efficient reactor design. This work not only offers a sustainable alternative to fossil fuels, it also makes better use of the biomass resources abundantly available in British Columbia | Doctor of Philosophy in Chemical and Biological Engineering (PhD) |